Man in Black
by AutobotJena
Summary: Okay, so they're at a concert. And Sam doesn't really know what's happening.


Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of the song lyrics. The exact songs used are listed below.

Also, this is not beta-read. And I'm extremely tired.

* * *

**Man in Black**

"Come on, Sam! "

"No. "

"It'll be fun, Sam! "

"No. "

"I haven't even told you what I have planned for us! "

At that, Sam sighed exasperatedly. "Then stop pestering me and tell me what you want! I'm not going out with you just because you poof yourself into my motel room and ask me to come along!"

Gabriel smirked. "Is that a yes?"

"That's a _you better tell me what you want or I'm going to find some leftover holy oil and grill you_."

"Whoa!" Gabriel raised both of his arms in defence. "No need to get all violent, kiddo. Jeez, you're really tense." He patted Sam's arm with a mockingly worried look. "It's a good thing I've got just the right idea to get you to relax..."

He looked up at Sam and smirked. Sam blinked, not knowing how to react to a flirting archangel. Or a flirting trickster. Or both. It was really confusing.

"I'm okay," he sighed, not really expecting Gabriel to believe him, "You know what would help me relax—"

He was going to finish that sentence with '_if you left me the fuck alone and let me do my work_', but Gabriel had probably expected that.

"Yes," he said, grabbing Sam's arm and raising his other hand to snap his fingers. "A country concert by a recently deceased musical genius. Not all the good ones die young, you know?"

And even though Sam tried to wiggle out of Gabriel's grip, the angel succeeded in snapping them away before Sam could do even so much as blink.

When he could see again, they were standing in front of a bar at the side of a highway, colourful neon-signs twinkling over their heads. Gabriel laughed jauntily. "Ah, the fifties. Wonderful. You just gotta love 'em."

Sam looked at him with an amusing mixture of horror and undeniable interest on his face. "We're in the fifties? You brought me to nineteen-fifty-whatever?"

His inner geek was torn. Gabriel patted his shoulder, though it kind of annoyed him that he had to reach up to do so. "Relax, it's not really the fifties. Just... kinda."

"How can it be the fifties, but not really?" Sam sighed and crossed his arms. "Did we time-travel?"

"Shut up and enjoy it," Gabriel advised him, "Because you're not getting out of here before you had the time to loosen up a bit. So you might as well start."

He walked past Sam and through the doors of the bar, and Sam, not wanting to lose his only way back to the present followed him quickly. If he had taken the time to take in his surroundings, he might have noticed the weather-beaten poster on the door advertising the act of the evening.

Inside the bar it was loud and full, and the smell of bear hung heavy in the air. Sam had a hard time following Gabriel, because he was small enough to just melt into the crowd, while Sam had to push his way through. There were some girls in brightly coloured dresses, and some men in suits, holding cigarettes and talking quietly amongst each other. It wouldn't quite fit the atmosphere of the bar, something was off, but Sam had no time to figure it out – he had to keep up with Gabriel.

Still, he couldn't quite stop looking, it was too interesting.

"Having fun?"

Gabriel suddenly popped up behind him, and Sam jumped. "Jesus, I thought you'd disappeared!" he exclaimed and sighed. Gabriel smirked and pinched Sam's cheek. "Aw, you were worried for me. I promise, Sammy, I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't call me...!"

Gabriel waved his hand dismissively. "Save it. Aren't you curious about why I brought you here?"

His pride seemed hurt because Sam hadn't asked yet. "Well, I suppose that's your idea of a fun evening. A bar in the not-quite-fifties, a few drinks and then what?"

Sam crossed his arms again. Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, it's so much better than that..."

He pointed at the stage at the far end of the bar. "Do you want to get a closer look? Maybe then you'll start being happy about being here."

Sam refused to move at first, but Gabriel's insistent stare made him curious, and finally, he turned around with a sigh, looking over the expectant crowd carefully – he hadn't noticed before, but there seemed to be a certain buzz to the entire situation, an aura of suspense. The lights were low, except for the ones that pointed to the stage, and Sam could make out a microphone and a drum set.

Most of the people were already moving towards the stage.

Sam checked for posters or any other indicators as to who might be the star of the night, but found none – somehow, when he looked closer the bar seemed scarcely decorated at all. Something was definitely off.

"Gabriel, is there anything wrong here?" he asked, turning back to where he expected the archangel to be, but Gabriel had gone again. Before he could even begin to panic, Gabriel popped back up next to him, two small bottles of coke in his hands.

"Here," he said, handing one to Sam, "Now get to that stage or I will carry you."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, sure."

But he went.

They stopped some two metres before the stage, right in the middle of the giddiest part of the crowd, and Gabriel rubbed his hands excitedly. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun..."

Sam regarded him hesitantly. "I don't wanna know what this involves if we're talking about your definition of fun here."

"No one's going to die, I promise," Gabriel was quick to point out, "I'm serious, Sam, this is just about getting you to relax a bit!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Sure, Gabriel. Because you're such a big philanthropist."

"I can be," Gabriel argued, and then winked at Sam. "For you."

Sam had to turn away, because he wasn't in the mood to deal with Gabriel's playful flirting. Not on top of all the weirdness of tonight.

Suddenly, the lights in the bar went _really_ dark, and the ones pointed at the stage lit up even brighter. Four men walked on stage, two of them with guitars, the third one with what seemed to be a bass, but that assumption was based more on logic than on actual knowledge of musical instruments. The fourth one sat down behind the drum set.

The guy who had entered the stage first moved to the microphone in the front and leaned down a bit. His hair was black and combed back, and there was a certain seriousness about his face – maybe it was his eyes that seemed to scan the crowd before he announced in a deep voice, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

Sam was not prepared for the crowd going wild like it did.

"Seriously?" Sam called over the shouting of the crowd, "You're taking me to a Johnny Cash concert?"

Gabriel shrugged, moving to the music with a permanent smirk on his face. "What can I say, I like his style."

Sam laughed – loud and honest. "You're..." He searched for a word. "You're impossible!"

Gabriel elbowed him and looked down, and Sam suddenly had to wonder if Gabriel was blushing. "Shut up and enjoy it, moose boy."

Sam turned back to the stage. The sound of the guitar was, as always pointed out by fans and critics, quite distinguishable, and somehow it made Sam want to move as well – the crowd certainly had no inhibitions, and everybody around him was dancing and shouting, while the man on the stage was singing with a grave earnestness.

"_Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine, I bet I'd move it on a little farther down the line. Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay, and I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away_..."

The voice went quiet, and the music stopped, but the crowd went even wilder, shouting and clapping and laughing, and Gabriel nudged Sam. "You like it?"

Sam couldn't help but grin at Gabriel widely. "It's..."

He was looking for a word again, but he didn't get to finish his sentence – the next song started, and going by Gabriel's content smile he had understood him, anyway. "Come on, Sammy!" he called, "It's time to dance!"

Gabriel started moving again, and Sam couldn't hide his blush this time. Not that he had a problem with dancing – it was just so strange, being here, with Gabriel, enjoying himself for the first time in God-knew-how-long. Suddenly he felt guilty, but then Gabriel grabbed his hands and left him no choice but to move along with him.

It wasn't dancing; not strictly speaking. They were just moving their feet a bit, shuffling and bouncing their bodies along with the music. Sam laughed, because Gabriel was ridiculously short and he was taller than everybody here and Johnny on the stage still sang with a serious face, but he was enjoying himself.

"_But I'm a different man for loving you, and I'd take a shot at what you asked me to_..."

Gabriel made him turn like a ballerina, and maybe he should consider a haircut, because now his hair was flying in all directions and Gabriel was laughing at him and Sam was blushing even harder and _goddamnit, what was going on with him?_

"Gabe, you've done something," Sam decided as the song ended, "Some... angel mojo, I don't know, just... why are we here?"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "So you finally decided to give me a nickname?"

Sam frowned. "What? No! I mean..."He sighed. "Why are we here? What is this all?"

Gabriel leaned forward conspiratorially. Sam leaned in as well, for a split second expecting an honest answer, before Gabriel smirked and announced loudly, "It's a concert, Samsquatch!"

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for clearing that up."

Gabriel pouted. "Aw, come on! Don't play hard to get now; I know you were enjoying yourself a minute ago!"

"Are we even talking about the same thing?" Sam asked. He still didn't have the faintest idea on how to react to Gabriel's flirting. The band on stage kind of saved him, because a new song started out just when Gabriel was about to reply.

The guitar was slower than the last time, and Sam recognised that song. "That's Man in Black, right?" he asked Gabriel, discarding their previous almost-argument. Gabriel nodded, and Sam frowned. "But that was released in the seventies!"

"Spoilsport," Gabriel muttered under his breath, and announced louder, "Oh, come on, don't question my perfect concert evening!"

"So it's not the fifties," Sam concluded. Gabriel sighed, "Noo, it's not. I had to improvise."

"When are we, then?" Sam asked, and Gabriel only answered him because the honest curiosity on the giant boy's face was too adorable. "We're not strictly speaking anywhere. It's a sort of... timeless place. It's mine. Do you like it?"

"You have Johnny Cash stored away in a time bubble?" Sam asked, and he seemed horrified.

"Only for tonight!" Gabriel promised, "Goddamnit, kiddo, how long will it take you to relax?"

Sam made a face at him and turned back to the stage where the singer stood with the guitar in his hands, playing with practiced ease and a sombre face. And yes, he kind of wanted to be angry at Gabriel, but the whole thing was amazing.

Not to mention that considering this was a time bubble, it meant that Gabriel probably had created this only for Sam and... no. He wouldn't be going there.

"..._till things are brighter, I'm the man in black_," the song concluded and the audience started clapping again. For the first time tonight, Sam was clapping, too. Next to him, Gabriel was smiling happily, and there wasn't a single spark of mischief in his eyes when he looked at Sam.

Sam, of course, didn't see it, but Gabriel's concern had been honest when he'd brought the boy here. One could tell from his face that he really wanted Sam to be happy.

The next song picked up immediately, and it was both faster and more cheerful. Sam laughed when Gabriel nudged him and started dancing again. "Come on, shake that ass, Sammy!"

Sam snorted and almost choked on his own breath. "Don't... don't ever say that again, Gabe," he said, shaking his head and blushing. But he started dancing again, anyway.

"_All the world was at her door, all except the boy next door who worked at the candy store_..."

The other guys chipped in. "_Dream on, dream on, teenage queen, saddest girl we've ever seen_..."

Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows at Sam. "Will you be my teenage queen, moose-boy? Because I would work at a candy store for you..."

"Shut up, Gabe," Sam laughed and turned back to the stage. He tried to shake off the feeling that Gabriel was still watching him insistently, and he had to focus hard not to look in Gabriel's direction. It was sort of distracting, and he lost his rhythm for a second and tripped.

Gabriel's immediate laugh told Sam that the angel had indeed been watching him, and all he could do was utter another "Shut up" to hide his humiliation. His blush had gone from _awkward_ to _holy shit get me out of here_.

Gabriel caught his arm, unnecessarily late, and suddenly it seemed to Sam that he was just looking for an excuse to touch him. He straightened himself just as the new song started and cleared his throat.

The new rhythm was slower, and somehow... seductive. God, Sam hated himself for even allowing his thoughts to wander in that direction, because he was sure that Gabriel must have read his thoughts – when he turned to the angel, Gabriel was swaying his hips in some utterly un-angelic moves and Sam had to turn away, not sure if he was embarrassed to see Gabriel make a fool of himself or if he honestly thought that Gabriel was... attractive.

No, the first one. Definitely the first one.

The song was about a girl called Ruby, and that effectively distracted Sam from any inappropriate thoughts he might or might not have had about the archangel. Seductive Gabriel or not, thinking about the disaster that was his first attempt at a relationship with a supernatural being brought him straight back to earth – only that he was still in Gabriel's time bubble, with an archangel beside him who didn't seem to plan on getting him out of here anytime soon.

"Gabriel, let's go," he demanded, unnerved. Gabriel stopped dead and looked up at Sam. "What's up?"

"I don't want to play your stupid games anymore, okay?" Sam had made this mistake once, thinking something good could come out of trusting something so alien. Ruby had been a demon, Gabriel was a trickster – and neither of them was kind. And Sam was equally blind for trusting them.

"Just get me out of here, okay?" His breathing always got heavier when he got really distressed, and Gabriel must have sensed his uneasiness, because he just nodded and grabbed Sam's arm to steer him back to the entrance. Sam freed his arm angrily and walked ahead, leaving a confused and slightly hurt Gabriel in his wake.

"What have I done wrong?" Gabriel asked once he'd caught up with Sam, and that question alone was proof enough to tell anyone in his right mind that this wasn't just Gabriel messing with someone. Gabriel never asked what he had done wrong, and he never apologised.

"It's just..." Sam had to clear his throat. "Just tell me why we're here or get me home, okay?"

"Hell, no!" Gabriel said, his expression stunned and confused, "You tell me what's wrong first."

In the background, the last notes of the song faded away. No more mentions of the name Ruby at least.

"Listen," Sam said, hands clenched in his pockets, "I don't know what your game is, but I don't even want to find out. It's nice that you've agreed to help us and all, but I just..."

Yes, he did feel like an asshole for saying anything. He took a deep breath and then sighed. Gabriel didn't respond, he just looked at Sam with the slightest hint of sadness on his face. Honestly, it wasn't hard to make the connection, and Gabriel was able to read Sam's mind – though he didn't do it all the time, he counted this one as an emergency.

"Listen, Sam, I'm not Ruby."

That shut Sam up effectively, but the silence was filled by the lugubrious notes of the next song. Gabriel sighed. "This isn't just some game I play, kiddo."

"_Please don't get too close and let me love you, cause I just might be fool enough to fall_."

The voice wasn't even that loud, it was just that both of them were looking for a distraction, something to occupy their minds with while they pretended to care less than they actually did. Gabriel felt that maybe Johnny Cash hadn't been such a good idea after all. He was melancholic enough as it was.

"Gabriel, I'm sorry," Sam finally said, not because he had anything to apologise for, but because he always was the first one to apologise.

Gabriel laughed bitterly. "I guess I just went a bit too fast."

Sam blushed again. Gabriel hadn't been flirting this time; this had been an honest implication. And Sam was at loss with what to do again.

"Why are we here?" he asked again, "Just please, answer me this. And I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything."

Gabriel sighed, and laughed, and looked down. "Okay." He looked up at Sam again. "Do you really want to know?"

Sam couldn't nod; he just kept looking at Gabriel. The angel sighed again. "I just wanted to see you dance."

He smiled guiltily, and Sam's blush deepened. "You're ridiculous."

"And you're quite a good dancer. I don't regret anything."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "Are you... are you flirting with me?"

"Sam, you're a clever boy, I'm sure you have that one all figured out by now," Gabriel teased and grabbed Sam's arm to pull him back to the stage. This time, Sam didn't resist. As the music grew louder, Sam's anxiousness faded away.

The music speeded up again, and Gabriel started dancing as if nothing had happened. He could wear that smile like a perfect mask.

Sam played along.

The rest of the evening – could an evening in a time bubble even be considered an evening? – went by in a flash, and Sam would later deny that he ever tried any sort of ridiculous dancing that Gabriel tried to get him to do. The colours of the dresses and the low lights of the bar melted into a sort of feeling that was hard to describe. The deep voice of Johnny Cash gave the evening just the right amount of seriousness to make Sam uncomfortable about the looks he exchanged with Gabriel, still not sure how earnest they were being.

In the end, they left and ended up in the parking lot of the bar.

The echoes of the last song followed them.

The night air was cool and slightly damp – Sam wouldn't question the logics of rain inside a time bubble.

Gabriel stood in front of Sam, hands in his pockets.

"_I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel_..."

The voice was exceptionally clear.

"Tonight was..." Sam cleared his throat and started again. "I had fun."

Gabriel laughed, and it seemed to fill the entire parking lot. He always had this effect; he could probably make an entire stadium listen if he tried. Sometimes he couldn't hide the fact that the he was more than his small vessel let on.

"Me too, kiddo."

Sam tried to move forward, then froze in place. He leaned down a bit. Gabriel tilted his head upwards.

"_What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all – my empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make you hurt_."

Sam kissed Gabriel because it felt right. It was sort of the only thing to do, at least from what he knew – he had had fun, and Gabriel had seemed honest. And the dancing really had been fabulous. Gabriel smirked, Sam could feel that, and he grabbed the shorter man's arms to get him closer. The music faded away slowly, and the grave seriousness disappeared.

Maybe things were special in their time bubble, because he didn't get cold, and Gabriel usually was shorter.

Actually, that was the only reason Sam broke the kiss – to check why exactly they were the same height suddenly. "Gabe...?" he asked questioningly.

Gabriel laughed, and went back to being an annoying short archangel. "So you're not only an awesome dancer..." he teased.

"Do not finish this sentence," Sam threatened.

"Aw, Sammy." Gabriel seemed awfully pleased with himself. "We should do that again!"

"You're insufferable," Sam stated.

"And a good kisser. Just as yourself, kiddo."

"Shut up."

Well, maybe he shouldn't have said that. It kind of provoked Gabriel to kiss him again.

* * *

List of the songs:  
Folsom Prison Blues  
I Will Rock & Roll With You  
Man in Black  
Ballad of a Teenage Queen  
See Ruby Fall  
I'd Just Be Fool Enough (To Fall)  
Hurt


End file.
